Bake Christmas Cookies with Friends: Advent Calendar Day 10
Cookies, cookies, cookies. I am pretty sure that Christmas Cookies always taste better than other cookies! ;) (And that is pretty good considering you never really hear me complaining about eating other cookies! ;) ). We think everyone deserves to treat themselves to a few Christmas cookies AND what better way to spend the day than with some friends in the kitchen?!? So fun!! For this reason alone, we hope you will join us for this 10th day of the Amazing Life Holiday Advent Calendar and Bake Christmas Cookies with Friends. 
Cookies have always been a huge part of our holiday traditions. Both Ryan and I remember growing up helping our families make hundreds of cookies. Making sand tarts always took the most effort, but they definitely made the most memories! I remember getting up at 5:00 a.m. to start the day at Grandma’s! (Ok, maybe it wasn’t that early- but I know we started early! ;) ). Everyone would have their hand in decorating and we would always make sure we made Ornaments with everyone’s monogram made out of teaberries. Ohh and did I mention, the churches always had to have stained glass windows with different colored sugars? Ryan’s favorite memories of making sand tarts was when they made them on his birthday (coming up super soon! ;) wahoo!)! His mom would cut out tractor trailer trucks especially for him to decorate with his favorite cinnamon balls! ;)
This year our friends Lauren and John invited us over for a day of cookie baking fun! John made his family’s traditional sugar cookies and we had a blast decorating them! ;) This was our first time using icing and boy was that a site to see! ;) It took me a while to get the hang of it- but the best thing was that Lauren and John had a rule that “the only rule at their house was that there are no rules!” It was so great… they didn’t judge us for our cookies! Haha! John even made Ryan a special lobster just for him to decorate (the lobster is like Ryan’s grown up tractor trailer truck! ;) ). It definitely made his day! Haha!
Making cookies surrounded by your friends is such a perfect way to make something incredibly tasty while making new memories! ;) I think that is the real reason that Christmas Cookies taste better than others! ;)
Huge thanks to Lauren and John and Lauren’s parents for inviting us over to join in on their cookie making fun!!! We had a blast! And an extra huge thanks to John for sharing his family’s sugar cookie recipe with all of us! Enjoy!
RECIPE: John’s Sugar Cookies
INGREDIENTS:
- 1.5 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 Cup Butter, softened
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- ½ tsp Almond Extract
- 2.5 Cups Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Cream of Tartar
INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix powdered sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Stir in flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough 3/16 inch thick on lightly floured cloth. Cut into shapes and sprinkle with decorative sugar (or skip the sugar and add icing and decorations after the cookies have been baked!). Place on cookie sheet. Bake 7-8 minutes, until edges are light brown.
